While rural counties struggle with declining gas-tax revenue to pay for paving and repair projects, proceeds from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road offer little reprieve.
The state received $3.8 billion in 2006 after leasing the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium for 75 years. The state legislature passed $150 million from that fund, called Major Moves, to local governments for road and street projects.
Much of the rest was set aside to fund 10 years’ worth of projects to improve and expand the state highway system, such as upgrading U.S. 24 from New Haven to the Ohio line.
Steuben and LaGrange counties will both tap Major Moves money to pay for highway work this year.
As a county along the Toll Road, Steuben received about $33 million from the lease. Last year, the County Council sent just $250,000 of that cash to the highway department; this year, the funding will double, reflecting interest earned from the county’s investment, Highway Engineer Keith Lytton said.
But Major Moves money has replaced the county income tax revenue that the council previously gave the highway department, and the county has cut road repairs almost in half, Lytton said.
LaGrange County also received $37 million in Major Moves money, but much of the highway department’s portion is being used to match a federal grant to rebuild County Road 250 North between Shipshewana and Middlebury, highway Superintendent Jeff Brill said.
Most other counties received much smaller amounts and have already spent them.
Allen County, for example, received Major Moves money from the state for only two years, in payments of $1.5 million and $1.2 million.
